WHAT’S THE BUZZ? TELL ME WHAT’S A HAPPENIN’ – WEDNESDAY EDITION

+ Oops!  I forgot to include Bruce McFarland’s post “Hobby or Business? It Matters to the IRS” from THE MISSOURI TAX GUY in Wednesday’s BUZZ!

As Bruce points out –

“The tax considerations are different for each activity so it’s important for taxpayers to determine whether an activity is engaged in for profit as a business or is just a hobby for personal enjoyment.”

+ CCH reports that “Senate Rejects $447-Billion Jobs Bill”.

“The Senate on October 11 rejected President Obama’s $447-billion jobs bill (Sen 1660) as two Democrats joined Republicans in opposing the measure.”

No real surprise –

“Concern over a 5.6-percent surtax on millionaires led all GOP members, with the exception of Sen. Tom Colburn, R-Okla,, who is recovering from surgery and not voting, to vote against the bill, and leaving Senate Democratic leaders little choice but to consider splitting the president’s signature jobs recovery bill into pieces.”

+ On Tuesday I posted about Herman Cain’s “9-9-9 Plan”.  Dan Shaviro gave us his more than 2 cents on the plan in the appropriately titled post “Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Tax Plan” at START MAKING SENSE. 

Dan looked at the corporate end of the “9” as a VAT, which I did not see at first (not that familiar with VAT – except that I get a refund of it when returning from UK – have really not investigated it as a possible alternative here in US).  I looked at the corporate “9” as I would have it - a flat tax on net corporate income less dividends paid (which would need to be more than 9%).

Dan continued his commentary in "Follow Up On Cain's 9-9-9 Plan and Fiscal Sel-Delusion".  

+ And VAT Bastard adds a couple of more pennies to the debate in “Herman Cain's 999 Plan: Stepping Stone to a VAT?” at TAX.COM, as does TAX GIRL Kelly Phillips Erb in “Cain’s 9-9-9 Tax Plan Continues to Attract Interest” over at Forbes.com.  Eventually it appears that just about every tax blogger has weighed in on the plan. 

+ But, of course, Professor Paul Caron, the TAX PROF, provides a good summary of the reaction to 9-9-9 in “More on Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan”.

+ It’s back!  Kay Bell (it wouldn’t be a BUZZ without Kay) gives us the word that a bogus email, which first showed up last year, is once again making the rounds of in-boxes, and goes on to set the record straight in “3.8% Health Care Tax Does Not Apply to All Home Sale Profits” at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES.

If you receive an email that begins “Did you know that if you sell your house after 2012 you will pay a 3.8% sales tax on it?” you should delete it without reading further.

+ And Kay brings us a great Republican tax proposal in “Republicans Offer Their Own Buffett Rule to Help Pay Down the Federal Debt”.

“Sen. John Thune (R.-S.D.) has introduced S. 1676, The Buffett Rule Act of 2011, which would add a line on 1040s so that taxpayers could more easily donate money to Uncle Sam. An identical version of the bill, H.R. 3099, was introduced in the House by Steve Scalise (R-La.).”

+ Joe Kristan talks about a recent Tax Court decision in “Spending Money for Charity? Get the Charity to Sign Off” at the ROTH AND COMPANY TAX UPDATE BLOG.

His bottom line -

“If you are out of pocket for the cheerleaders, the cross country team, or the church, and you want a deduction, you need to get a letter from the organization if you spend more than $250. For that matter, you need their letter even if you give them cash.”

TTFN